State of Israel
Solid Waste Management in Israel
Compendium of articles from
ENVIRONMENT BULLETIN
2006
2007
2008
March 2008
Cover photo:
Rehabilitated waste
site in Kfar Saba.
Photo: Eitan Aram
Integrated Solid
Waste
Management
2
Construction &
Demolition Waste
8
From Dumping to
Landfilling
12
From Disposal to
Recovery
14
www.environment.gov.il
Green plastic
bottles await
recycling at
Aviv Ltd.
Photo: Yoav
Goell
PLANNING
FOR INTEGRATED SOLID WASTE
MANAGEMENT IN ISRAEL
w
What to do with some 6 million tons of municipal and
industrial waste which is generated in Israel each year?
A recently approved Solid Waste Management Master
Plan, coupled with legislative reforms and initiatives,
presents some answers.
Each person in Israel generated 1.53 kilograms of waste
per day in 2005 - totaling 560 kilograms per person
per year. In all, some 6 million tons of waste, including
industrial waste, were generated in Israel in 2005. In a
country as small as Israel, the problem of how to manage
all of this waste is reaching critical proportions.
Recognition of the fact that the capacity of authorized
landfills will soon be exhausted led the Ministry of
Environmental Protection to formulate a policy based
on integrated waste management at the dawn of the
21st century. In 2006, the main elements of this policy,
based on a combination of methods to reduce and
recover as much of the waste as possible, received the
official stamp of approval of the National Planning and
Building Board, Israel’s highest planning authority, in the
form of a Solid Waste Management Master Plan.
From Concept to Document
To date, Israel’s solid waste management system
has taken little or no consideration of the scarcity of
land reserves and of the dire consequences of land
consumption. The unrealistic low cost of landfilling has
prevented the introduction of advanced, innovative –
and more expensive – methods of solid waste treatment.
2
To a large extent, the Solid Waste Management Master
Plan seeks to overcome this basic market failure.
It sets out to present a clear and comprehensive
framework for solid waste management, including
rules, criteria, approaches and long-term goals for
achieving integrated solid waste management, based
on reduction, recovery and landfilling, with landfilling
representing the last option. Moreover, it relates to all
stages of solid waste management, to all generators of
waste and to a wide range of treatment methods.
Strategic Policy Goals
In a nutshell, the target of Israel’s solid waste policy is to
minimize the costs – both environmental and economic
- of solid waste treatment. Environmental costs, which are
not always easy to quantify, are reflected in damages
to quality of life, safety and human and environmental
health. Economic costs are reflected in the direct costs
of land consumption and in the financial and natural
resources required for solid waste treatment.
Following are the strategic goals of the solid waste
management master plan:
1. Sustainable management of land resources in Israel:
Assurance that land consumption for landfilling
purposes will not hinder opportunities for physical,
landscape, and environmental development, but
will prevent economic and social damages (social
injustice) in all areas of the country.
2. Protection of the physical environment: Assurance
that the solid waste management system will be
ISRAEL ENVIRONMENT BULLETIN 2007
implemented in a way that will prevent environmental
damages of all kinds.
3. Repair of historic damages: Assurance that reversible
historic environmental damages will be reduced in
all areas within five years.
4. Partnership and contribution to global environmental
trends: Assurance that the policy will transform Israel
into an active and valued partner in international
efforts to protect global environmental resources.
Public Participation in Planning for Integrated Solid
Waste Management
The Ministry of Environmental Protection considers
public participation in planning and decision making
processes to be a high priority in order to prevent
conflicts and promote plans. During the preparation
of the solid waste master plan, four public hearings
were held with the participation of the Israeli Public
Solid Waste Forum – a 200-member group including
stakeholders from all sectors.
Furthermore, due to the sensitivity of planning for thermal
treatment facilities and other recycling and recovery
facilities in the vicinity of population centers, the Ministry
of Environmental Protection and the S. Neaman Institute
for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology have
initiated a project designed to create an efficient and
accessible mechanism for public participation.
Priorities for Action
The Ministry of Environmental Protection has been
working hard to implement the integrated solid
waste policy, with first priority going to the landfill levy
(approved in January 2007) as a means of internalizing
the external costs of land consumption, air pollution,
water pollution and more. Without doubt, the recent
approval of the landfill levy constitutes an historic
milestone in waste management in Israel.
Yet, at the same time, the ministry is also concentrating
its efforts on promoting recycling and reduction at
source for different waste streams, reviewing different
technologies for thermal treatment and promoting
public participation in planning and decision making
on material recovery facilities. Several of the ministry’s
initiatives have become a reality in recent months
– whether the landfill levy or a recycling law for waste
tires, thus significantly advancing the ministry’s efforts.
Education, financial assistance and regulatory measures
– all are being used today to make integrated solid
waste management a reality.
Policy Steps and Recommendations
The master plan outlines the policy steps which are necessary to achieve the
goals of solid waste treatment in Israel. Each step is made up of two components:
actions that will serve as "agents of change" to achieve the long-term goals of
the master plan, and tools to facilitate the process by such means as legislation
and enforcement, economic incentives and persuasion and assimilation.
Following are some examples of recommended policy steps:
Reduction at source:
• Encouraging reduction at source, mainly among industrialists and commercial
enterprises.
• Reviewing potential models of levies on manufacturers for material use.
• Promoting reduction at source among the general public.
Recovery:
•
•
•
•
Imposing a landfill levy which will internalize the external costs of landfilling.
Advancing planning for a thermal treatment system.
Promoting paper, cardboard and plastic recycling.
Advancing composting.
Electronic
waste awaiting
recycling at Zohar
S.B.A.
Photo: Yoav Goell
Landfilling:
• Advancing dedicated landfills for dry waste (with low degradable organic matter).
• Continuing the development of landfills for municipal solid waste.
• Rehabilitating abandoned dumps.
3
DID YOU KNOW?
WASTE GENERATION FACTS
AND FIGURES: 2005
Generation of Waste
• A total of 6 million tons of waste, including industrial
waste, were generated in Israel in 2005.
• Each person in Israel generated 1.53 kilograms of
waste per day, totaling some 560 kilograms per
year.
• Savion residents generated the highest rates of
waste per day – 4.47 kg per person, followed by
Eilat – 3.45 kg of waste per person per day, probably
due to the waste generated by the numerous hotels
and large numbers of tourists in the city.
• Waste quantities generated in Jerusalem, Beersheba
and Bnei Brak have remained nearly identical over
the past five years – about 1.26 kg per capita, 1.7 kg
per capita and 1.36 kg per capita, respectively.
• Waste quantities in Tel Aviv have declined over
the past six years: 3.27 kg in 2000, 2.94 kg in 2001,
2.85 kg in 2002, 2.75 kg in 2003, 2.73 kg in 2004 and
2.62 kg in 2005. This trend indicates a decrease in
consumption levels.
Composition of Solid Waste - Summer-Winter 2005
Average Weight
4
Composition of Solid Waste: 2005
• Plastic waste constitutes 46% of the waste volume
in the Israeli garbage bin (up from 34% in 1995),
followed by paper (15%) and cardboard (13%).
• In terms of weight, organic matter constitutes 40%
of Israel’s solid waste, followed by paper (17%) and
plastic (13%).
• Plastic bags make up 30% of the volume and 7%
of the weight of the waste.
Recycling of Waste
• 1.4 tons of waste were recycled by 8 recovery
facilities, 23% of the total quantity of mixed waste.
• Recycling rates in Israel have risen from 3% at the
beginning of the 1990s to about 23% in 2005.
• Some 130 local authorities take part in recycling
and recovery processes in Israel.
• Some 1,156 billion beverage containers were
collected for recycling between October 2001,
when the Deposit Law on Beverage Containers went
into effect, and the end of 2005. Some 330 million
beverage containers were collected in 2005.
• Some 50 million beverage containers larger than 1.5
liters were collected from 6000 cage-like receptacles
dispersed throughout the country.
• Sixteen collection points for electronic waste are
dispersed in ten local authorities throughout the
country.
• 85 tons of used batteries were collected in 2005. In
the first eight months of 2006, 80 tons of used batteries
were collected for landfilling in the hazardous waste
treatment site at Ramat Hovav.
Composition of Solid Waste - Summer-Winter 2005
Average Volume
ISRAEL ENVIRONMENT BULLETIN 2007
Glass bottles at
Phoenicia await
recycling/photo:
Yoav Goell
Collection of Beverage Containers for Recycling
Estimates of Recycling in Israel (2005)
Type of Raw Material
Non-Ferrous Metals
Total Recycled
Waste/Year
(tons)
29,037
Electronics
10,500
0.18
236,972
3.95
30,000
0.5
356,602
5.94
Miscellaneous
7,063
0.12
Ferrous Metals
465,210
7.75
Paper and
Cardboard
Plastic
255,138
4
28,100
0.47
Tires
1000
0.02
Total
1,419,622
23
Yard Waste & Wood
Glass
Organic Material
Used Battey Collection
Percent of
Recycling out of
Total
0.48
Recycilng Rates
5
MOVING TOWARD INTEGRATED
SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
Israel has a statutory
National Outline Plan for
Solid Waste Treatment. Why
was it necessary to prepare
a master plan on solid waste
management as well?
The National Outline Plan
for Solid Waste Treatment
(NOP 16) was approved by
the government in 1989 and
Ilan Nissim
was amended on different
Director, Solid Waste Division
occasions during the 1990s.
However, the background documents of this outline plan
forecast processes until the year 2000 and did not envision
the scarcity of space for landfilling. Our recognition that
landfill volume in Israel is fast running out prompted us to
approach the National Planning and Building Board with a
request to facilitate the establishment of Material Recovery
Facilities and to simplify the statutory planning process
which is long and bureaucratic. In turn, the National Board
called for the preparation of a master plan which would
analyze existing conditions and present recommendations
for integrated solid waste management until the year 2020.
On a concrete level, what will be the outputs of the new
master plan?
The outputs will include legislative steps and operational
and planning processes. Legislative steps include the
imposition of a landfill levy, which was finally approved in
January 2007, and specific legislation for different waste
streams, such as the Tire Recycling Law, also recently
enacted. Operational processes relate to composting and
other forms of waste recovery. Planning processes relate
to a directive by the National Board to amend NOP 16
in accordance with the recommendations of the master
plan, including zoning requirements for thermal treatment
facilities and guidelines on public participation. The idea
is to shorten the planning track for some projects by
transferring the planning of recycling and recovery facilities
from the national to the regional level of planning.
The National Board is the highest statutory planning body
in Israel, with representatives from government bodies,
local authorities and public and professional organizations.
Therefore, the adoption of the master plan by this body
should have far-reaching influence on the entire system.
6
ISRAEL ENVIRONMENT BULLETIN 2007
I believe that the policy outlined in the master
plan will be translated into recovery and recycling
facilities in the field over the coming years.
What is the ministry doing to facilitate the move
to integrated waste management?
Fortunately, we have seen several of our initiatives
come to fruition recently. Firstly, and most significantly,
an amendment to the Maintenance of Cleanliness
Law makes the landfill levy obligatory. The economic
studies which first identified the landfill levy as the
right tool for reducing the quantities of waste
reaching landfills and increasing waste recycling
and recovery were carried out as far back as
1996. I believe that the landfill levy is the most
significant achievement in the field of solid waste
treatment over the past ten years. Without doubt
this achievement will advance Israel towards a new
era of recycling and recovery.
At the same time, two additional developments will
help pave the way toward recycling: enactment
of the Tire Recycling Law and approval by the
cabinet and the Israel Knesset in a first reading
of the expansion of the Deposit Law on Beverage
Containers which will allow some 600 million more
bottles, 1.5 liters and up, to come under the umbrella
of the law.
In parallel, we will continue to grant financial aid
to material recovery facilities, to recycling centers
and educational programs and to other recycling
initiatives. In our opinion the combination of recycling
with thermal treatment and anaerobic digestion
should bring us close to our 50% recovery target.
Te’enim landfill
photo: Ilan Nissim
MOVING FROM LANDFILLS TO
RECOVERY FACILITIES
The National Outline
Plan for Solid Waste
has proved itself. It
has seen the closure
of hundreds of dumps
and their replacement
by state-of-the-art
landfills. However, it
is time to move on.
We must now provide
Tal Shohat
the right conditions
Director of Landfills and Transfer to entrepreneurs,
Stations, Solid Waste Division
we must prepare the
necessary infrastructure, and we must provide
the right framework of rules to facilitate recovery
processes.
Therefore, we are now in the midst of amending the
provisions of the outline plan in accordance with the
master plan. The goal is to facilitate the establishment
of solid waste complexes, offering different treatment
options, and based on environmental criteria.
To reach this goal, planning processes must be
simplified. Sorting, recycling and composting facilities
will be planned at the regional level, while landfill
planning will continue at the national level where
a comprehensive view of Israel’s land resources is
necessary.
Within a few years, all of today's approved and active
landfills will reach capacity. Therefore, urgent steps
are necessary to promote alternative and advanced
treatment methods. In this regard, the landfill levy
which was recently approved by the Knesset is of
top importance. Today the price of landfilling in Israel
is unrealistic and thereby impedes the promotion of
advanced treatment methods, including reduction
at source, reuse, recycling and waste to energy. A
comparative study which we undertook showed that
while the average price of landfilling in Israel is about
40 shekels per ton (less than $10), prices worldwide
run between tens of dollars to as much as hundreds
of dollars per ton.
As long as the landfilling price does not reflect its true
costs, advanced waste recovery facilities will not be
able to penetrate the waste treatment market. The
landfill levy plays a vital role in providing a solution
to the current price distortion in Israel's waste market
and will go a long way toward encouraging the
development of waste recovery facilities as
alternatives to landfills.
Decorating
garbage
dumpsters
in Acre
photo: Ilan
Swissa
Plastic
bottle
receptacle
photo:
Shaul
Almog
Tire as home
to anemone
and
mosquitoes
photo: Shai
Ilan
7
Targeting Construction
and Demolition Waste:
a Top Priority
T
Transforming construction waste from nuisance to
resource is at the top of the ministry’s "to do" list
Growing piles of construction waste along roadsides
and open spaces are a grim reality in Israel. Their
association with landscape blight and environmental
problems is indisputable. Yet, to date, despite a three
year old government decision to regulate the treatment
of construction waste, little has been done to solve the
problem. Out of some 7.5 tons of construction waste that
are generated in Israel each year, only 1.5 million reach
authorized landfills. Yet the problem cannot be solved
by landfilling alone. Israel does not have sufficient land
resources to absorb the ever growing amounts of dry
waste that are generated annually. Steps are urgently
needed to turn construction waste from nuisance to
resource.
Over the past year alone, two plants for the crushing
and treatment of construction waste were inaugurated
in Israel’s central region, one operational since August
2005 in Bareket and the second operational since
Composition of Waste Generated on
Residential Construction Sites
A research study commissioned by the Ministry
of Environmental Protection and conducted by
Dr. Hadassah Baum and Dr. Amnon Katz of the
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in 2004
has found:
• Construction waste generated on residential
construction sites includes such materials as
concrete, iron, wood, bricks, tiles, plastic and
paper.
• Non-inert materials, such as plastic, aluminum and gypsum, constitute some 36% of
the waste.
• Nearly two thirds of the waste may be recycled, consisting of 12% paper, 8% iron and 44%
inert materials.
• Residential building generates an estimated
20 tons of waste for each 100 square meters
of built space.
8
January 2006 in Hiriya. The plants are expected to
reach a recycling capacity of 100,000 tons per year
and 150,000 tons per year, respectively. Other plants
are already operational in other parts of the country
– in Ashkelon, Ramat Zvi in the Beit She’an Valley and
Dudaim in the south, complemented by mobile on-site
facilities throughout the country.
Working on Solutions
Finding a comprehensive solution to the problem of
construction waste is not easy, largely because of
the large number of stakeholders involved in every
part of the chain, including waste generators, waste
transporters, waste contractors and local authorities.
What’s more, basic infrastructures for collection,
transport and transfer are inadequate and vital parts
of the system are unregulated.
Yet, despite the difficulties, stakeholders believe that the
time is ripe for market forces to play their part in ridding
the country of unsightly heaps of construction waste
and promoting environment-friendly solutions. Building
contractors are beginning to discover the economic
potential inherent in using recycled aggregates from
construction waste as fill in construction or as a road
base, and efforts have been initiated to formulate
appropriate standards.
Local authorities, too, should be interested in solving the
problem. Not only does such waste detract from the
aesthetic appearance of cities and their environs, but it
takes up valuable land, with an economic value for real
estate purposes. It is in the interest of local authorities
to make derelict land available for building and to
clean up these spaces.
Upgrading the Role of Local Authorities
Local authorities should play a key role in coordinating
the safe disposal and treatment of construction waste
– but they don’t. While municipalities are legally bound to
collect municipal solid waste, they are not obligated to
dispose and treat construction and demolition waste.
To overcome this barrier, the following amendments
to planning and building regulations have been
promulgated:
ISRAEL ENVIRONMENT BULLETIN 2006
Photos left to right: Ilan Malester, Ayelet Arad, Galia Pasternak
What is the Ministry of Environmental
Protection Doing to Effect a Change?
• Promoting the establishment of standards
for recycled construction waste through the
Standards Institution of Israel;
• Advancing legislative changes: an amendment to the Maintenance of Cleanliness Law
imposing responsibility on local authorities for
the transport and disposal of construction
waste and a model municipal bylaw on the
disposal of dry waste;
• Initiating a pilot project, with the participation
of all stakeholders, based on the Environmental Problem Solving Approach;
• Stepping up enforcement: catching offenders "in the act," launching investigations, filing criminal charges and, at times, seizing
offending vehicles to be used as evidence
during trials.
• Providing financial support to local authorities
for planning and establishing infrastructures
for dry waste: in 2005, 11 million shekels in
financial aid were allocated to about 45
local authorities.
• Identifying abandoned quarries which
may be used for the disposal of construction waste, in cooperation with the Quarry
Rehabilitation Fund and the Israel Lands Administration. Once filled and rehabilitated,
the quarries may be transformed into parks
for the benefit of the population.
• Issuing warnings and Cleanup Orders for
the clean up of open spaces to the owners of land or to the polluters themselves. If
not implemented, a contractor is hired and
the owner or polluter is charged double the
expenses.
• Local planning and building committees must require
building permit holders to transfer their waste to an
authorized site for disposal.
• Contractors applying for a building permit must
prove to local planning committees that they have
contacted an authorized construction waste landfill
for the purpose of disposing of all of the waste
expected to be generated by the project.
• Occupancy permits for buildings must not be issued
until proof is provided that all of the waste stipulated
in the building permit was transferred to an authorized
site.
Yet, despite the regulations, local planning committees
have largely continued to issue building permits without
addressing the problem of construction and demolition
waste. And when it comes to small home renovations,
building permits are not required at all.
The Model Bylaw for the Disposal of Dry Waste
To help address the problem, the Ministry of Environmental
Protection has drafted a model bylaw on the disposal
of construction and demolition waste which is currently
being "marketed" to local authorities. The bylaw relates
to the obligations and powers of local authorities in
establishing both the necessary infrastructures and the
necessary systems for supervision and control including
permits and fees.
In parallel, the possibility of having municipalities publish
tenders for authorized transporters of construction waste
that will serve the city is being examined. Today, this
is one of the weakest links in the chain leading from
generation to disposal since the transport sector is
inadequately regulated. The goal is to select, by tender,
a number of official municipal transporters, thereby also
giving residents who renovate their homes the option
of choosing an official transporter, at a lower price and
with the assurance that the waste collected will indeed
reach an authorized site.
9
Solving the Problem of Construction
and Demolition Waste
Ilan Nissim
Director,
Solid Waste Division
What has changed for
the better since the
government decision of
2003 to regulate the treatment of construction
and demolition waste?
The issue of construction and demolition waste is
the realm of responsibility of numerous stakeholders,
including the key players in the field of building
and development in Israel – the Ministry of the
Interior, local planning authorities, the Ministries of
Construction and Housing, Transport and Defense,
and the Israel Lands Administration. Three years
ago, these bodies were not sufficiently aware
of the magnitude and consequences of the
problem. Today, both government ministries and
agencies and local authorities are beginning to
recognize the high price that they are paying
– environmentally and economically. The waste
which finds its way to open spaces and roadsides
affects more than our environment and our health
– it impacts on land values, hurts tourism and
harms our economy.
What has changed to make you more
optimistic about the possibilities of
improvement today?
As far as the Solid Waste Division is concerned,
this is our greatest challenge. We succeeded
in regulating the area of municipal waste. Now
we must turn all of our efforts to the problem of
construction waste.
We are seeing progress. Firstly, within the Ministry
of Environmental Protection, the subject has been
upgraded in priority. In fact Minister Gideon Ezra has
identified this as the highest priority. Secondly, local
authorities are much more aware of the seriousness
10
of the problem and are ready to cooperate.
Thirdly, our regional offices, in cooperation with the
Enforcement Coordination Division, have issued
hundreds of cleanup warnings in recent years,
which have both raised awareness and made a
difference in the field. When this was not enough,
warnings were followed up by cleanup orders. In
cases where cleanup orders were ignored, we
ourselves undertook the cleanups and charged
the municipalities double the sum, as per the
provisions of the law.
It’s important to mention that the Green Police
has played a critical role in discovering offenders
in the very act of dumping construction waste
in prohibited areas, collecting evidence, seizing
dump trucks when necessary as part of the
evidence gathering process, and issuing cleanup
warnings and orders.
What else is being done to bring about a
solution to the problem?
We are sitting with local authorities to help them
implement a comprehensive solution – from the
level of local planning authorities which must
ensure that building and occupancy permits are
not issued until solutions to construction waste
are implemented to the level of transporters of
construction waste which must be more strictly
regulated. Local authorities are not familiar with
the legal tools which are available to them to
tackle the problem. We are helping by providing
them with guidelines on such tools as licensing and
permit systems and fees for different aspects of the
treatment of dry waste. Once rules and regulations
are set in bylaws, and are accompanied by fees
and fines, progress would be possible.
At the same time, we are continuing to promote
the establishment of infrastructures for crushing
construction and demolition waste. The huge
amounts of construction waste which were
generated in the North following the recent war
are catalyzing the process.
ISRAEL ENVIRONMENT BULLETIN 2006
Applying the Environmental Problem
Solving Approach to Construction Waste
To further expedite a solution, a pilot project,
based on the Environmental Problem Solving
Approach, has been initiated by three
departments in the Ministry of Environmental
Protection (Solid Waste, Business Licensing
and Enforcement Coordination) along with
regional solid waste coordinators. The main
aims of the project, which will be conducted
in three cities – Modi’in, Jerusalem and Tel
Aviv, with additional cities such as Haifa,
Rehovot, Ramat Gan and Bat Yam showing
an interest as well, are to regulate the work
of renovators and building contractors and
to assure that they comply with business
licensing conditions.
Top Priority to Construction Waste
Soon after entering the office, Environmental
Protection Minister Gideon Ezra declared
his intention to place the subject of
construction and demolition waste at the
top of his agenda: "I intend to spearhead a
comprehensive program that will integrate
greater allocations of funds for enforcement,
on the one hand, and cooperation with local
authorities and other government ministries
in preparing an immediate work plan, on
the other hand."
Clearly, a comprehensive approach is vital
in order to deal with the complex problems
associated with the generation, disposal,
transport, recycling and reuse of construction
waste. As obstacles are overcome, chances
are good that a market for recycled
construction waste can be developed for
the good of both the environment and the
economy.
Truck Seizure as a Tool for Stopping Illegal
Dumping: Case Study in the Haifa District
Shai Ilan and Abed Mahamid
Illegal dumping of dry waste is one of the major problems of solid waste
management in Israel, largely because generators of dry waste are
often tempted to seek "free" ways to dump their waste.
The Green Police of the Ministry of Environmental Protection is
responsible for the bulk of inspection and investigation activities. When
an environmental nuisance is discovered and the identity of the owner
of the waste or of the land is known, an enforcement procedure is
initiated – from calls and letters, to public hearings, to cleanup orders
(under the Maintenance of Cleanliness Law 1984). Yet the procedure
is cumbersome and may take up to six years: from finding evidence
on the origin of the waste, to identifying the offender, to opening a
criminal case, etc. Another possibility is to trace the owner of the land
and order him to clean it up, a procedure that, if contested, can lead
to a lengthy trial.
Over the past five years, criminal charges were filed against about 15
out of the 30 large waste transporters working in the Haifa district, which
encompasses 970 km2 and a population of one million. Enforcement
was targeted at every pile of waste larger than 40 m3 and criminal
investigations were initiated against mayors for illegal waste dumping.
Yet, the problem has not disappeared.
On September 2004, a new step was initiated – truck seizure. This is based
on a provision in the Penal Law, which permits the seizure of the tool
used to commit an offense until trial and, in case of conviction, may
allow this tool to become state property. The truck is seized for 30-40 days
and the owner pays storage fees, or, if determined to release the truck,
bail. Truck seizure is only possible if a member of the Israel Police (blueuniformed police office) is present. As cooperation is good between
the green and blue police in the Haifa district, shared supervisions
were held for the purpose of discovering waste offenders. In the past
year alone, eleven trucks were seized and transferred to state custody
pending trial.
The impact of this experiment is significant, resulting in:
• Less administrative enforcement – in the first seven months of 2006,
we opened 8 cases of illegal dumping in comparison to the parallel
period in 2004 when 22 cases were opened – a drop of 60%.
• 30% more dry waste reaching landfills.
• Less waste in open fields.
The deterrent effect of this procedure is evident in the attitude of waste
transporters. While previously they knew that a criminal investigation and
trial could take years and result in a fine, today they know that if they
illegally dispose their waste, they risk losing their trucks and an identical
or larger fine in just 30 days. While this is not the final solution, the new
technique has been shown to save time and increase deterrence.
Photo: Eitan Aram
11
Photos: Yoav Goell and Ilan Malester
Aerial
view of
the Hiriya
landfill
Photo: Ilan
Malester
FROM DUMPING TO SANITARY
LANDFILLING
A
A real revolution in municipal solid waste disposal occurred in Israel between 1994 and 2003. Today 80% of the
country's waste is disposed or treated in an environmentally sound manner
In the late 1980s, some 96% of Israel's municipal waste
found its way to about 500 unregulated garbage dumps.
Most were poorly managed and many had reached
or were soon to reach capacity. The dumps were
associated with a motley of environmental problems:
risk of groundwater and soil contamination, odor, air
pollution (including generation of greenhouse gases),
aesthetic blight, threats to flight safety, and consumption
of expensive tracts of land.
Recognition of the severity of the problems led, in 1993,
to a government decision, mandating closure of the
country’s unregulated dumps, their replacement by
state-of-the-art regional and central landfills, financial
aid to local authorities for transporting their wastes
to regulated landfills for a defined time period, and
promotion of recycling and energy recovery.
The landmark decision, which was followed up a
year later with an amendment to the National
Outline Plan for Solid Waste Disposal, expedited the
establishment of central landfills, shut down hundreds
of illegal waste dumps and created an infrastructure
for environmentally-safe solid waste disposal both in
the short and long terms.
Implementation: First Stage
The implementation of the first phase of the plan
- establishment of state-of-the-art central landfills
12
and closure of the dumps - was concluded in 2003.
Today, Israel's regional and central sites, along with
other landfills included in the national outline plan,
are operated according to professional guidelines
prepared by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
They include the latest technologies for every stage of
landfilling from siting to post-closure, including sealing,
leachate detection, collection, treatment and disposal,
methane gas collection and use, proper covering of
the waste during operation, closure procedures (landfill
capping), and monitoring of possible contamination of
groundwater during and after closure (up to 30 years
aftercare).
The Economics of Landfilling
In the beginning of the 1990s, the cost of landfilling in
Israel was very low, with the tipping fee ranging between
0-15 NIS ($0-4.00). In light of these low costs, "stick and
carrot" measures needed to be used to ensure the
closure of the dumps. Local municipalities were granted
financial aid for transporting waste to regulated sites
following the closure of dumps, on the one hand, and
were forced to close the dumps by demand or legal suit,
on the other hand. In cases where illegal dumps were
not closed, action was also taken against the mayors
or other high level officials in the municipalities.
Between 1994 and 2003, financial support was awarded
ISRAEL ENVIRONMENT BULLETIN 2008
to 107 local authorities – servicing about half
of the population – in the sum of $82 million.
The support was granted for a set period of 5
years with a decrease of 20% each year.
Year
The Results
1994
Today, all regulated landfills in the country
have installed systems for the prevention of
leachate leakage and for leachate collection
and treatment. Most of the landfills have
also installed, or will soon install, systems
for the collection and treatment of landfill
gases. Furthermore, several landfills have
begun to operate facilities for landfill gas
extraction and energy recovery. In addition
to energy savings, this step has important
implications for climate change mitigation.
Since the contribution of methane emissions
from the decomposition of solid waste to
carbon dioxide emissions has been most
significant, measures such as landfill gas
extraction and energy recovery, composting
of waste, anaerobic digestion and waste to
energy are important measures for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions from solid waste.
In February 2008, mayors of 15 major Israeli
cities (known as the Forum of 15) signed a
declaration pledging to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions by 20% by the year 2020, as part
of the Cities for Climate Protection campaign,
initiated by the International Council for Local
Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). The campaign,
which addresses solid waste and recycling as
one of four main areas of action, marks an
important turning point in the environmental
awareness of local authorities in Israel.
Closure of Unregulated Dumps
90
80
Financial Support to Local Authorities for Closure of Dumps (1994-2003)
77
76
74
70
Municipalities
(number)
Financial support Closure of
(Million $)
large dumps
(number)
1
0.150
1995-6
63
1.240
10.00
35
1997
72
1.380
7.20
14
1998
88
2.430
11.40
18
1999
102
2.835
15.80
3
2000
107
2.895
15.80
3
2001
107
2.950
10.75
1
2002
107
3.010
10.00
0
2003
107
3.150
1.10
2
82.05
77
Total
1
Population1
(million)
1
(Central Bureau of Statistics, 2002)
Major Milestones on the Road to Integrated Solid Waste Management
1989: Approval of the National Outline Plan for Solid Waste Treatment.
1993: Government decision on closure of unregulated dumps,
establishment of regional and central landfills, financial aid for
transporting waste to regulated landfills and advancement of
recycling and energy recovery.
1993: Enactment of the Collection and Disposal of Waste for Recycling Law.
1994: Amendment of the National Outline Plan for Solid Waste Treatment
according to the 1993 government decision.
1998: Closure of Hiriya, Israel's 84-meter-high landfill near Ben-Gurion
International Airport.
1998: Promulgation of Collection and Disposal of Waste for Recycling
Regulations.
1999: Enactment of the Deposit Law on Beverage Containers.
2003: Closure of Israel’s last unregulated landfill at Retamim
2003: Government decision on construction and demolition waste
treatment.
2006: Approval of the Solid Waste Management Master Plan by the
National Planning and Building Board.
2007: Amendment to the Maintenance of Cleanliness Law on
a landfill levy.
2007: Enactment of the Tire Disposal and Recycling Law.
no. of sites
60
50
41
40
30
27
20
10
9
6
3
2
2
2000
2001
2002
0
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
0
2003
Photos: Ilan Nissim, Eitan Aram and Avri Lachman
13
Rehabilitated
dump in Haifa.
Photo: Ilan
Malester
FROM
DISPOSAL TO
RECOVERY
I
Israel has embarked on a new road which
should hasten the transformation of waste into
resource
A veritable revolution in environmentally sound landfilling
occurred in Israel in the ten year period between 1994
and 2003. Today, the Ministry of Environmental Protection is
hard at work promoting a new revolution: waste recovery.
It is using every possible means - financial support,
legislation and education - to promote alternatives
to landfilling, including recycling, composting, energy
recovery and treatment of construction and demolition
waste.
Economic Tools
As in the case of environmentally sound landfilling,
financial aspects are playing a pivotal role on the road
to waste recovery. Although landfilling costs have more
than tripled since Israel's landfills have been upgraded,
the cost of landfilling still in no way reflects the externalities
associated with this disposal practice, especially in a
country characterized by scant land resources. In fact,
within a few years, all of Israel's approved and active
landfills will reach capacity. Realistic pricing mechanisms
are therefore an imperative in order to promote alternative
solutions to the country’s solid waste problem.
As a first step, a decision was made to change the price
structure of landfilling by means of a landfill levy. The
rationale: to internalize the external costs of landfilling
and to encourage alternative treatment methods.
On January 16, 2007, the Israel Knesset approved an
amendment to the Maintenance of Cleanliness Law
which requires landfill operators to pay a levy for every
ton of waste which is landfilled at the site. The landfill
rate is determined by the type of waste and type of
landfill and will be gradually implemented over a five
year period (beginning with 10 shekels in the first year, 20
shekels in the second year and reaching 50 shekels in the
fifth year for a ton of municipal solid waste, for example).
The funds collected will be deposited in a dedicated
account of the Maintenance of Cleanliness Fund and
will be returned to local authorities or the private sector
for the purpose of setting up recycling and recovery
infrastructure. Criteria for financial support will be
published in 2008.
Since the levy first went into effect in July 2007 and until
the end of the year, 20 million shekels in landfill levies were
collected, with levies expected to reach 80 million in 2008.
If the present recycling rate of 25% does not increase,
the landfill levy is forecast to reach 200 million shekels a
year within 5 to 10 years.
However, the goal of the Environmental Protection Ministry
is to reduce rather than increase the funds accruing from
the landfill levy. Environmental Protection Minister Gideon
Ezra has stated that "the goal of the ministry is to increase
recycling and reduce landfilling to a minimum. We would
like to collect half of the forecasted landfill levy in 2018
and to reach 100 million shekels rather than 200 million
shekels. The lower the number, the more successful we
will be in reaching our target - preventing the landfilling
of waste and spearheading its recycling.''
Ilan Nissim, Director of the Solid Waste Division in the Ministry
of Environmental Protection, recalls that the economic
studies which first identified the landfill levy as the right tool
for reducing the quantities of waste reaching landfills and
increasing waste recycling and recovery were carried
out as far back as 1996. According to Nissim, the landfill
levy is the most significant achievement in the field of
solid waste treatment over the past ten years: “Without
doubt this achievement will advance Israel towards a
new era of recycling and recovery,” says Nissim.
Left to right: Burning tires in the north, Reuse of tires in public park, Tire collection from Gulf of Eilat.Photos: Ministry of
Environmental Protection
14
ISRAEL ENVIRONMENT BULLETIN 2008
environmental impact of the product, even when it is
no longer in use.
MORE ON THE TIRE RECYCLING LAW
Elad Amichai
Recycling Director, Solid Waste Division
Some 3 million tires in Israel are transformed
into waste tires each year. They are
often illegally discarded and pollute
open spaces and water sources. Water accumulation
in waste tires transforms them into breeding grounds for
mosquitoes, including the Asiatic tiger mosquito, which
constitutes a public health hazard.
Over the years, thousands of waste tires have been
transferred to illegal lots, increasing the risk of fires and
air pollution. And even within landfills, used tires are
responsible for operational difficulties since they are
relatively incompressible and combustible waste and
gas may accumulate in them.
Israel's recycling law is an innovative law which is based
on the principle of "producer responsibility" for treating
environmental problems. The rationale is that the producer
or importer, who are at the top of the pyramid in the
life cycle of a product, should be responsible for the
Tire recycling is definitely preferable to landfilling, both in
terms of the recovery of natural rubber as a raw material
and in terms of saving landfill space. I anticipate that the
law will help catalyze the development of a recycling
industry in Israel, which receives waste tires from produces
and importers and transforms them into raw materials
and new products.
Since the law came into effect in July 2007, several
companies have been established which treat and dispose
of used tires on behalf of tire importers and producers.
Checks conducted by the Ministry of Environmental
Protection demonstrate that tire repair businesses have
largely instituted the required tire disposal systems.
While much remains to be done in terms of cleaning up
the country from the accumulation of tires in the past,
my hope is that the waste tires which once polluted our
country will soon be transformed into raw material for
new products, bringing about both resource conservation
and environmental improvement.
Left to right:
Recycling bins.
Photo: Ilan Nissim,
Plastic bottle
collection.Photo:
Ilan Malester,
Recycled rubber
from tires in
playground.Photo:
Ilan Nissim
Tire Recycling Law: A Step in the Right Direction
On January 23, 2007, Israel’s Knesset enacted a Tire Disposal
and Recycling Law, which aims to prevent the environmental
nuisances associated with improper disposal of used tires
and to save raw materials and promote tire recycling.
According to the law, tire producers and importers will be
responsible for the disposal and recycling of used tires at
the following graduated rates each year:
• Disposal or recycling of no less than 50% of the tires until
June 30, 2009.
• Disposal or recycling of no less than 70% of the tires until
June 30, 2011.
• Recycling and recovery of at least 50% and disposal
of no more than 35% of the tires until June 30, 2012.
• Recycling of at least 85% of the tires, from July 1, 2012.
After July 2013, producers and importers will be obligated to
recycle all of the collected tires and will be prohibited from
disposing tires, in any form, in any waste disposal site.
In addition to the responsibility imposed on importers and
producers of tires, the law imposes storage requirements
on tire sale and repair businesses. Such establishments
are required to store tires in a way which will prevent the
accumulation of water and the creation of environmental
nuisances. These businesses are also required to transfer
tires on a regular basis to importers and producers in order
to avoid the creation of large stockpiles of tires.
From Nuisance to Resource
Israel’s integrated solid waste management policy
has been implemented using both "stick and carrot"
– enforcement, on the one hand, and financial support
and education, on the other hand. Hopefully this will prove
to be a winning combination when it comes to waste
recovery and recycling. The Ministry's short-term goal for
2008 is to achieve a 25% recycling and recovery rate and
to increase the recycling rate of the country's construction
and demolition waste to 5%. The long-term goal is to reach
a 50% recovery rate within the next ten years.
15
Reuse of tires in public park. Photo: Ministry
of Environmental Protection, Northern District.
Websites for Everyone
Looking for information about the environment in Israel?
The Ministry of Environmental Protection has developed four main websites, with
something for everyone - children and adults, Hebrew, English and Arabic speakers,
in Israel and worldwide.
For more information:
Solid Waste Management Division
Ministry of Environmental Protection
P.O.B. 34033
Jerusalem 95464, Israel
Telephone: 972-2-6553801/2
Fax: 972-2-6553817
Inquiries: [email protected]
16
Come visit us at:
Hebrew Website:www.sviva.gov.il
English Website: www.environment.gov.il/english
Arabic Website: www.sviva.gov.il/arabic
Children's Website:www.sababa.sviva.gov.il
ISRAEL ENVIRONMENT BULLETIN
vol. 32